311: Heliskiing in Albania, Champoluc & Chamonix’s Closing Day

We find out what it’s like heliskiing in Albania, learn about the ski resort of Champoluc in Italy, and hear about the last ski day of the season in Chamonix.

We also have snow reports from Cervinia in Italy and Les 2 Alpes and Tignes in France.

Host Iain Martin was joined by freelance journalist Katie Bamber and Editor of Snow Magazine, Tris Kennedy.

SHOW NOTES

Katie previously shared her experience of touring the Alps in a camper van (in Episode 167), the Haute Route (in Episode 172) and Geilo in Norway in Episode 204 (1:30)
She recently skied on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier in Austria (2:45)
Tris skied at Passo Tonale, which stays open until 03 May (4:15)
Iain was at the Grands Montets for the closing day party (6:00)
Check out the Pond Skim event video (7:00)
Alex Armand from Tip Top Ski Coaching is in Les 2 Alpes (7:45)
Floss Cockle from the YouTube channel FreeFloFloss is in Tignes (8:30)
Dave Burrows from SnoPros Ski School was in Cervinia (10:30)
Samuel Equy & Mathéo Jacquemoud set a new ski FKT for Chamonix to the top of Mont Blanc and back (13:30)
You can watch their video here
Jaquemoud set a time of of 13h27m49s for the Haute Route earlier in April (14:00)
Where is Champoluc? (16:45)
What’s the ski area like? (19:00)
Ski 2 went out of business in 2021 (23:00)
Al Morgan reported from the SIGB ski test in Champoluc in Episode 303 (23:30)
Tris travelled with Heliski Albania (26:00)
Where is Albania? (26:30)
Who is Norman Wisdom? (28:00)
How to get there? (29:00)
Pristina has statues of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton (29:00)
Valbona is in the ‘Accursed Mountains’ (31:00)
You don’t (normally) need to jump out of the helicopter (32:00)
What’s the terrain like? (33:30)
Best time to go (35:30)
Check Tris’s article in National Geographic (37:00)

Feedback
You can leave a comment on Spotify, Instagram or Facebook – our handle is @theskipodcast – or drop me an email to theskipodcast@gmail.com. We’re also on WhatsApp

Anon (Spotify): "309 was another fabulous episode bringing the mountains ever closer to all of us. Despite living in a ski resort myself [Morgins] I never fail to learn something new about life in my own backyard."

Lucy Kings: "I’ve been an avid listener for some time. I’m particularly interested in your commitment to sustainable travel, championing the female voice and above all I love that The Ski Podcast has highlighted the issues of disability and improving access to skiing for young people by fundraising for Snow Camp."

Antonia Simpson: "I was delighted to see Vars and Risoul featured in Episode 310. We’ve been going to the area for years. It’s a massively underrated region and it’s brilliant.”

There are now 311 episodes of The Ski Podcast to catch up with in our back catalog – all available at theskipodcast.com. Just have a search around the tags and categories and you’re bound to find something you’ll find something of interest to get you through until next winter.

You can buy Iain a coffee at BuyMeACoffee.com